The opening ceremony witnessed the participation of defense ministers of ASEAN member countries and Secretary-General of ASEAN Lim Jock Hoi.
After the opening speech by General Ngo Xuan Lich, delegates discussed regional and global issues of mutual concern, informed major activities that will be held in 2020, and agreed on several contents, particularly the two joint declarations of ADMM and ADMM Plus that will be adopted by the end of this year.
At the event, General Ngo Xuan Lich held that the ADMM has increasingly been proved to be an effective mechanism of cooperation, dialogue and exchange at the defense ministerial level since its first meeting in Malaysia in 2006. It has become a regional mechanism dealing with strategic defense-security matters, contributing to building trust and enhancing mutual understanding among ASEAN member countries. It also helps foster dialogues and defense cooperation between/among ASEAN countries and partners.
In regard to ADMM-Plus, the Vietnamese head delegate said that the mechanism has become a ministerial-level consultation on defense policies, and at the same time on cementing practical cooperation and improving joint activities among ASEAN members and partner countries.
According to General Lich, ASEAN is facing many challenges, including competition amongst big countries, regional maritime security with the East Sea issue in particular, and the emerging traditional and non-traditional security challenges. Specifically, the outbreak and rapid spread of the acute respiratory disease caused by coronavirus disease (COVID-19) threatens not only ASEAN member countries but all nations around the world. According to Mr. Chairman, the ASEAN Community needs a joining effort to tackle the wide spread of fake news on social media that causes a negative impact on the people.
The Vietnamese defense minister affirmed that the host country has taken special medical approaches to protect delegates participating in the meeting and will spare no effort to successfully hold other defense-military events in Vietnam's ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020 amidst the complicated situation of COVID-19. As the Chair of the Board of Directors of the ASEAN Center of Military Medicine (ACMM) this year, Vietnam proposed that member countries consider organizing drills in dealing with disease outbreaks and spread in 2020, he said.
He went on to say that Brunei and Australia, as co-chairs of the ADMM-Plus Experts' Working Group on Military Medicine during the 2020-2023 tenure, are encouraged to include the response to disease outbreaks in field exercises during the three-year working program of the group.
Vietnam also called for partner countries in the ADMM-Plus mechanism to enhance their cooperation in building capacity for ASEAN countries’ military medicine sectors, especially their abilities for responding to disease outbreaks, the minister said.
According to the minister, the ADMM Retreat, which is the first high-level event during Vietnam’s ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020, is very important in outlining the orientation for ASEAN defense cooperation in 2020 as well as in preparing for ADMM and ADMM Plus at the end of the year.
Translated by Trung Thanh